The power of the isolated pawn

by Oliver Reeh
5/1/2021 – In the diagram position, which is from a game between Adelya Salakhova and Valentina Gunina, White seems to be doing more or less okay. However, it took Gunina, who has a keen eye for tactics, only a few moves to reveal the hidden weakness of White's position - power play in perfection! What did Black do?

Strike like the world champions Strike like the world champions

88 times, IM Oliver Reeh leads you step by step through the most brillant game conclusions of the world champions - in interactive Fritztrainer format, enabling you to enter the winning moves yourself.

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 a6 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.Nf3 e6 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Bxd6 Qxd6 11.Na4 0-0 12.Rc1 Rac8 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 e5 15.Qg3 Qe7 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Bf5 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 The power of the isolated pawn In the diagram position, which is from a game between Adelya Salakhova and Valentina Gunina, White seems to be doing more or less okay. However, it took Gunina, who has a keen eye for tactics, only a few moves to reveal the hidden weakness of White's position - power play in perfection! What did Black do? Nh5! Driving the white queen back onto the sad square h2 - all forward moves are impossible! 19.Qh2
White queen on h2 - surely encouraging for Black. But how to continue?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Salakhova,A1875Gunina,V24270–12021D13Moscow Open-B 20211.2

Oliver Reeh in ChessBase Magazine

Do you like these lessons? There are plenty more by tactic expert Oliver Reeh in ChessBase Magazine, where you will also find openings articles and surveys, endgames, and of course annotations by the world's top grandmasters.

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ChessBase Magazine #200

ChessBase Magazine Extra #199

Oliver Reeh has been working for ChessBase for many years as a translator and presenter of the internet show TV ChessBase, and he also looks after the tactics column in ChessBase Magazine, for which he has also been responsible as editor-in-chief since 2019. The International Master has contributed to the CB "MasterClass" series and is the author of the DVDs "Strike like the World Champions" and "Master Class Tactics - Train your combination skills!" Volumes 1 & 2. Oliver Reeh lives in Hamburg.

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